Methods and systems for determining a telecommunications service location using global satellite positioning

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are provided for obtaining information related to a customer service location and directions for routing a service technician from one customer service location to another. One embodiment includes requesting at least one set of coordinates associated with the customer service location; accessing a technician server to direct a global satellite positioning system to obtain the set of coordinates for the customer service location; obtaining the coordinates and updating one or more databases with said coordinates. The coordinates may include at least one of a latitude and a longitude associated with the customer service location. Another embodiment includes obtaining through a technician server at least one set of “from” coordinates associated with the first customer service location and at least one set of “to” coordinates associated with the second customer location; transmitting the “from” and “to” coordinates to a mapping system; and, generating directions in the mapping system based on the “to” and “from” coordinates. At least one of the sets of coordinates includes latitude and longitude data. System and computer-readable media embodiments of these methods are also provided.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present methods and systems generally relate to processingand transmitting information to facilitate providing service in atelecommunications network. The methods and systems discussed hereinmore particularly relate to use of global satellite positioning tofacilitate processing and transmission of information associated withtelecommunications service locations and routing travel between morethan one such service location.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Efficient and effective customer service is an essentialrequirement for commercial enterprises to compete successfully intoday's business world. In the telecommunications industry, for example,providing customer service is an important part of sustaining marketshare in view of the many competitors in the industry. Customers whosetelephone service, for example, is interrupted or disconnected for evena relatively short period of time may desire to seek an alternativesource for service, especially if the interruption or disconnection isnot addressed by a quick and effective customer service response.

[0005] One important aspect of providing customer service is maintainingaccurate and complete knowledge of the customer's location. Computersystems and databases that provide customer addresses often only providevague references, however, to the exact location of the customer. Suchcustomer addresses typically do not include information of sufficientspecificity to permit efficient identification of a service locationassociated with the customer. In the context of a techniciantransporting a vehicle to a customer's service location, for example,this lack of sufficient service location information can generateexcessive driving time and slow response time. Where the response timeis unacceptably high, the lack of sufficient service locationinformation can result in delayed or missed customer commitments. It canbe appreciated that such delayed or missed customer commitments cancause a commercial enterprise to lose valuable customers.

[0006] What are needed, therefore, are methods and systems for acquiringinformation associated with a customer's service location. Such methodsand systems are needed to obtain, for example, a latitude and longitudeassociated with the customer's service location. In one aspect, iflatitude and longitude information could be collected by a servicetechnician when the customer's service location is visited, thosecoordinates could then be used to find the customer at a later date.Moreover, if latitude and longitude coordinates could be made availablein a database associated with that specific customer, the coordinatescould be used to assist in determining the service location of thatcustomer. Such service location information could permit a servicetechnician to drive directly to the customer service location withlittle or no time lost searching for the service location.

[0007] What are also needed are methods and systems for providing aservice technician with directions, such as driving directions betweentwo or more service locations. Such directions could be employed toroute travel from a first customer service location to a second customerservice location. It can be seen that such directions would furtherreduce the possibility of error in locating a customer service locationand thereby enhance customer service response time.

SUMMARY

[0008] Methods and systems are provided for obtaining informationrelated to a customer service location. One embodiment of the methodincludes requesting at least one set of coordinates associated with thecustomer service location; accessing a technician server to direct aglobal satellite positioning system to obtain the set of coordinates forthe customer service location; obtaining the coordinates and updatingone or more databases with the coordinates. The coordinates may includeat least one of a latitude and a longitude associated with the customerservice location. One embodiment of a system for obtaining informationrelated to a customer service location includes an input deviceconfigured for use by a service technician at the customer servicelocation. A technician server is included in the system for receivingdata transmissions from the input device. The technician server is incommunication with a global positioning satellite system for determininga set of coordinates associated with the input device. Computer-readablemedia embodiments are also presented in connection with these methodsand systems.

[0009] In addition, methods and systems are discussed herein forgenerating directions for a service technician traveling from a firstcustomer service location to at least a second customer servicelocation. One embodiment of the method includes obtaining through atechnician server at least one set of “from” coordinates associated withthe first customer service location and at least one set of “to”coordinates associated with the second customer location; transmittingthe “from” and “to” coordinates to a mapping system; and, generatingdirections in the mapping system based on the “to” and the “from”coordinates. One system embodiment includes an input device configuredfor use by a service technician at a first customer service location. Atechnician server is provided for receiving data transmissions from theinput device. A global positioning satellite system, which is configuredfor determining at least one set of “from” coordinates associated withthe input device is provided for use on an as needed basis. At least onedatabase is included in the system for storing a “to” set of coordinatesassociated with the second customer service location and the “from” setof coordinates. The system further includes a mapping system operativelyassociated with the input device for generating travel directions basedon the “from” and “to” coordinates. At least one of the sets ofcoordinates includes latitude and a longitude data. Computer-readablemedia embodiments of these methods and systems are also provided.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0010]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram depicting one embodiment of a systemfor obtaining, processing, and transmitting information related toproviding customer service at a customer service location;

[0011]FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram depicting a portion of the system ofFIG. 1 in more detail;

[0012]FIG. 3 is a process flow diagram showing one embodiment of amethod for obtaining, transmitting and processing information related toproviding service at a customer service location;

[0013]FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram depicting one embodiment of a systemfor obtaining, processing, and transmitting information related toproviding customer service at a customer service location; and,

[0014]FIG. 5 is a progress flow diagram depicting one embodiment of amethod for obtaining, processing, and transmitting information relatedto providing customer service at a customer service location.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0015] Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, a service technician visiting acustomer service location is provided with a technician input device 2for receiving and transmitting information related to a disruption orinterruption of service at the service location. The input device 2 canbe a wireless PC, for example, a laptop, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a wireless pager or any other device suitable for receiving andtransmitting data associated with providing service at the customerservice location. A transponder system 4 is operatively associated withthe input device 2 for receiving and transmitting signals such assatellite transmission signals, for example.

[0016] The input device 2 is configured and programmed to permit theservice technician to access a technician server 6. As shown in FIG. 1,access to the technician server 6 can be enabled through a wireless datanetwork 8 through a radio connection 10. Access to the technician servercan also be enabled by a modem connection 12 through a landline server14. The landline server 14 can be a server configured in accordance witha server having a CSX 7000 trade designation employed by BellSouthTelecommunications (BST—Atlanta, Ga.).

[0017] A protocol server 16 receives and processes communications fromboth the wireless data network 8 and the landline server 14. Inoperation of the input device 2, the protocol server 16 processesinformation transmitted from the input device 2 including, for example,a user ID, a password, a radio serial number, an input device serialnumber, and other similar data associated with a service technician andservice provided at a customer service location. In one aspect, theprotocol server 16 can include one or more WINDOWS NT servers (MicrosoftCorporation) configured to assign one or more logical ports totransmissions received from the input device 2.

[0018] In one aspect of the present methods and systems, the technicianserver 6 can be a server having a TECHACCESS trade designation(Telcordia Technologies). The technician server 6 can be a conventionalserver configured and programmed to verify and/or process informationreceived from the input device 2. The technician server 6 functions as atransaction request broker between the protocol server 16 and one ormore other systems operatively connected to the technician server 6. Thesystems operatively associated with the technician server 6 can include,among other possible systems, a global positioning satellite system 18(GPS system), a dispatch system 20, an address guide system 22, and acustomer records system 24.

[0019] In one embodiment of the present methods and systems, the GPSsystem 18 can be configured in accordance with the BellSouthTelecommunications Global Positioning Satellite System (GPS) asimplemented by SAIC's Wireless Systems Group (WSG). The GPS system 18 isoperatively associated with the transponder system 4 and can be employedto track, dispatch, and monitor service technicians and their inputdevices at numerous customer service locations. In one aspect, the GPSsystem 18 interacts with a transponder mounted on a mobile vehicle (notshown) employed by the service technician at a customer servicelocation.

[0020] One purpose of the GPS System 18 is to provide supervisors andmanagers of service technicians with more comprehensive technicianactivity information. The GPS system 18 can include one or more servers(not shown) and one or more databases (not shown) for transmitting,receiving and storing data associated with satellite communications. Inthe context of the present methods and systems, the GPS system 18 servesto acquire information associated with a customer service locationincluding, for example, the latitude and longitude coordinates of thecustomer service location.

[0021] The dispatch system 20 serves to receive, process and transmitinformation related to service required at one or more customer servicelocations. In one embodiment, the dispatch system 20 includes a server,a database and one or more graphical interfaces for receiving commandsfrom a user. Such commands can include, for example, entry on agraphical user interface (GUI) of customer information and a problemdescription associated with a particular interruption or disruption ofservice. The dispatch system 20 communicates with the technician server6 to process and transmit information related to actions to be performedat a customer service location. Examples of dispatch systems suitablefor use in connection with the present methods and systems include the“LMOS,” “IDS” and “WAFA” systems of BellSouth Telecommunications.

[0022] The address guide system 22 includes a database 26 for storinguniversal type address information, examples of which are shown in FIG.2. The address guide system 22 can be considered the keeper of alladdresses in the universe of telecommunications services. The addressguide system 22 helps to promote valid addresses as customer servicelocations. For example, if a customer contacts a telecommunicationsservice provider, the customer can be queried for the customer'saddress. If the customer provides an address of 123 XYZ Street and thereis no 123 XYZ Street in the database 26 of the address guide system 22,then a correct address for the customer can be confirmed and enteredinto the database 26. An example of an address guide system 22 suitablefor use in accordance with the present methods and systems is the “RSAG”application of BellSouth Telecommunications.

[0023] The customer record system 24 is operatively connected to theaddress guide system 22 and includes a database 28 for storing customerrelated information, examples of which are shown in FIG. 2. In oneembodiment of the present methods and systems, the customer recordsystem 24 serves to store information related to a particular servicelocation and customer. For example, when telephone service is initiallyrequested by a customer, a record in the database 28 can be populatedwith information that will create a correspondence between thecustomer's address and the details of the telephone service to beinstalled. Records in the database 28 of the customer record system 24typically remain effective as long as service at a particular addressremains the same for that customer. The customer record system 24interfaces with the dispatch system 20 during the operation of thedispatch system 20 to generate work orders associated with serviceissues at customer service locations. For example, if problems arisewith a customer's service, such as the initial installation order forthat service, the dispatch system 20 schedules the work order. Thedispatch system 20 draws on information contained in the customer recordsystem 24 to create the dispatch order for a service technician toperform any actions required by the work order.

[0024] Referring now to FIGS. 1 through 3, an operative example of thepresent methods and systems include a service technician at a customerservice location with an input device 2. In accordance with theconnections described above, in step 32 the technician server 6 canrequest the coordinates, in terms of latitude and longitude, from theservice technician at the customer service location. The request of step32 can be performed, for example, in step 34 by a job closeout scriptapplication of the technician server 6 that is adapted to query theservice technician regarding the customer's location at the conclusionof a service call. The technician server 6 may check to determinewhether a latitude and longitude are already present in the customer'sinformation in the database 28 of the customer record system 24.

[0025] The technician server 6 can then instruct the service technicianin step 35 to verify his presence at the customer service location. Instep 36, the GPS system 18 is accessed, such as through a “FleetOptimizer” application (BellSouth Technologies) associated with thetechnician server 6, to obtain latitude and longitude coordinatesderived from the location of the service technician's input device 2. Instep 38, the GPS system 18 transmits a signal to the transponder system4 operatively associated with the input device 2 and obtains coordinatesof the customer service location in step 40. The GPS system transmitsthe obtained coordinates to the technician server 6 in step 42. In step44, the dispatch system 20 is updated with the newly obtained latitudeand longitude information. In step 46, the database 28 of the customerrecords system 24 is updated to reflect this latitude and longitudeinformation. In step 48, the latitude and longitude information istransmitted to and stored in the database 26 associated with the addressguide system 22.

[0026] It can be seen that just because one has a street address for acustomer service location, it does not necessarily follow that locatingthe customer service location can be readily performed. For example, astreet address in Pittsburgh, Pa. might be Three Rivers Stadium Park. Ifthis is the only information available, however, it may be difficult tofind the customer service location where work needs to be performed. Useof a GPS system to associate coordinates with a street address permitsone to know the position of a customer service location, and hence thelocation of a service technician performing work at that customerservice location.

[0027] In another example of the present methods and systems, a newcustomer requests service installation at ABC Street. Verification isperformed to determine that ABC Street is a valid address. If it is avalid address, and if latitude and longitude information has beenpopulated in the address guide system 22, then the information can beused effectively by a service technician to address the customer'sneeds. In addition, if a service issue later arises with the customerservice location, the dispatch system 20 can obtain the customer record,including the customer name, contact number, the type of facilities thecustomer has, and latitude and longitude information associated with thecustomer service location. This complete record of information providesenhanced response time for addressing the customer's service needs.

[0028] Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, in another aspect of the presentmethods and systems, a mapping system 52 can be provided for routingtravel of a service technician between more than one customer servicelocation. The mapping system 52 is configured and programmed to providetravel or routing directions to a service technician from a firstlocation to at least a second location where customer service is to beperformed. The mapping system 52 can include conventional mappingsoftware installed on a computer-readable medium operatively associatedwith the input device. The mapping system 52 can also be accessedremotely, such as through a wireless connection between the mappingsystem 52 and the input device 2.

[0029] In one embodiment, the technician server 6 functions to providelatitude and longitude information to the mapping system 52. Thisinformation includes “from” information (i.e., the origin customerservice location of the service technician) and “to” information (i.e.,the destination customer service location to where travel is desired forthe service technician). Before dispatch to the next customer servicelocation, the service technician requests driving instructions in step62. The technician server 6 queries the “Fleet Optimizer” application,or its functional equivalent, in step 64 to obtain the current customerservice location in step 66, which can be used by the mapping system 52as the “from” location. If necessary, and in accordance with previousdiscussion of the present methods and systems, the GPS system 18 can beaccessed to obtain “from” latitude and longitude coordinates in step 68.

[0030] The address guide system 22 can then be accessed by thetechnician server 6 in step 70 to provide the “to” location to themapping system 52, including latitude and longitude information for thedestination customer service location. In step 72, the technician server6 transmits the “from” and “to” coordinates to the technician inputdevice 2. In step 74, the mapping system 52 processes the “from” and“to” coordinates. The mapping system 52 can then generate and outputdriving directions from the “from” location to the “to” location for theservice technician in step 76. It can be appreciated that the output ofthe mapping system 52 including the driving directions can be in anyconventional format suitable for communicating the directions to theservice technician. For example, the output including the drivingdirections can be in electronic format or hard copy format.

[0031] As discussed above, accurate latitude and longitude coordinatesmay have already been established for the present or origin customerservice location. In the process of dispatching a service technician toa next customer service location, however, it may be necessary to engagethe GPS system 18 to obtain these latitude and longitude coordinates.The GPS system 18 can therefore be employed to provide knowledge of oneor more service technician locations for various customer servicelocations where service is required. The GPS system 18 also functions topromote providing correct customer service location information,including latitude and longitude coordinates associated with customeraddresses and/or associated critical equipment. It can be seen thatalgorithms can be applied in the dispatch system 20 and/or thetechnician server 6 to use this knowledge of service technicianwhereabouts and customer service locations to facilitate moving the nextbest or available service technician to the next highest priority ormost appropriate service location.

[0032] The term “computer-readable medium” is defined herein asunderstood by those skilled in the art. A computer-readable medium caninclude, for example, memory devices such as diskettes, compact discs ofboth read-only and writeable varieties, optical disk drives, and harddisk drives. A computer-readable medium can also include memory storagethat can be physical, virtual, permanent, temporary, semi-permanentand/or semi-temporary. A computer-readable medium can further includeone or more data signals transmitted on one or more carrier waves.

[0033] It can be appreciated that, in some embodiments of the presentmethods and systems disclosed herein, a single component can be replacedby multiple components, and multiple components replaced by a singlecomponent, to perform a given function. Except where such substitutionwould not be operative to practice the present methods and systems, suchsubstitution is within the scope of the present invention.

[0034] Examples presented herein are intended to illustrate potentialimplementations of the present communication method andsystem-embodiments. It can be appreciated that such examples areintended primarily for purposes of illustration. No particular aspect oraspects of the example method and system embodiments, described hereinare intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

[0035] Whereas particular embodiments of the invention have beendescribed herein for the purpose of illustrating the invention and notfor the purpose of limiting the same, it can be appreciated by those ofordinary skill in the art that numerous variations of the details,materials and arrangement of parts may be made within the principle andscope of the invention without departing from the invention as describedin the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for obtaining information related to acustomer service location, comprising: requesting at least one set ofcoordinates associated with said customer service location; accessing atechnician server for directing a global satellite positioning system toobtain said set of coordinates for said customer service location;obtaining said coordinates for said customer service location; andupdating one or more databases with said coordinates.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising updating a customer records system with saidcoordinates.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating anaddress guide system with said coordinates.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein said coordinates include at least one of a latitude and alongitude associated with said customer service location.
 5. The methodof claim 1, wherein said requesting said at least one set of coordinatesincludes accessing a technician input device.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein said accessing said technician server includes accessing atransponder associated with a service technician located at saidcustomer service location.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein saidupdating one or more said databases includes updating at least one of alatitude and a longitude derived from said coordinates in at least oneof said databases.
 8. A system for obtaining information related to acustomer service location, comprising: an input device configured foruse by a service technician at said customer service location; and atechnician server for receiving data transmissions from said inputdevice, said technician server in connection with a global positioningsatellite system for determining a set of coordinates associated withsaid input device.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein said set ofcoordinates includes at least one of a latitude and a longitudeassociated with-said input device.
 10. The system of claim 8, furthercomprising a customer records system having a database for storing saidset of coordinates.
 11. The system of claim 8, further comprising anaddress guide system having a database for storing said set ofcoordinates.
 12. The system of claim 8, further comprising a dispatchsystem for instructing said service technician through said technicianserver on work to be performed at said customer service location. 13.The system of claim 8, wherein said input device includes a wirelesspersonal computer.
 14. The system of claim 8, further comprising atransponder operatively associated with said input device and saidglobal satellite positioning system for determining said set ofcoordinates associated with said input device.
 15. A computer-readablemedium containing instructions for assisting a computer system toperform a method for obtaining information related to a customer servicelocation, said method comprising: requesting at least one set ofcoordinates associated with said customer service location; accessing atechnician server for directing a global satellite positioning system toobtain said set of coordinates for said customer service location;obtaining said coordinates for said customer service location; and,updating one or more databases with said coordinates.
 16. The medium ofclaim 15, wherein said method further comprises updating a customerrecords system with said coordinates.
 17. The medium of claim 15,wherein said method further comprises updating an address guide systemwith said coordinates.
 18. The medium of claim 15, wherein saidcoordinates include at least one of a latitude and a longitudeassociated with said customer service location.
 19. The medium of claim15, wherein said updating one or more said databases further includesupdating at least one of a latitude and a longitude derived from saidcoordinates in at least one of said databases.
 20. A system forobtaining information related to a customer service location,comprising: means for requesting at least one set of coordinatesassociated with said customer service location; means for accessing atechnician server for directing a global satellite positioning system toobtain said set of coordinates for said customer service location; meansfor obtaining said coordinates for said customer service location and,means for updating one or more databases with said coordinates.
 21. Thesystem of claim 20, wherein said coordinates include at least one of alatitude and a longitude associated with said customer service location.22. The system of claim 20, wherein said means for requesting said atleast one set of coordinates includes means for accessing a technicianinput device.
 23. The system of claim 20, wherein said means foraccessing said technician server includes means for accessing atransponder associated with a service technician located at saidcustomer service location.
 24. The system of claim 20, wherein saidmeans for updating one or more said databases further includes means forupdating at least one of a latitude and a longitude derived from saidcoordinates in at least one of said databases.